News & Research

Opening Doors That Change Lives

09/08/2011

Project Open Door Portfolio studio course, spring 2011

One day in 2005, a group of
boys from Providence’s Hope High School found their way to the basement at 20
Washington Place. Their struggling school had been placed under state control
because of its high dropout rates, and the boys, who craved an artistic outlet,
had heard something about an after-school program at RISD.

“I have such a vivid memory
of those sophomore students kind of wandering in on their own and saying, ‘Hey,
can we join?’” says Professor Paul
Sproll, head of RISD’s
Department of Teaching + Learning in Art + Design (TLAD). He typically mentors graduate
student teachers, but soon began volunteering in the basement himself after word
of the program reached Feinstein High, another low-performing public school. “That’s
when we knew we had something – something that could be really meaningful.”

Five years and more than
500 students later, that something is known as Project Open Door (POD) – a pioneering program
that attracts urban teens with a passion for art and literally envelops them with
RISD resources and intensive mentoring throughout their high school years.

The college recently
received renewed support for POD from the
Surdna Foundation, which is providing a $160,000, two-year grant to build on its two previous three-year grants for the
initiative. The ongoing commitment from Surdna recognizes POD’s
success in addressing the foundation’s Thriving Cultures goals to
provide opportunities for the artistic advancement of teens. Surdna is particularly interested in stimulating
fresh thinking and new approaches to address the isolation and lack of
artistic opportunities for young people from disadvantaged
communities, and long term, to provide opportunities for teens from diverse
cultures to contribute to the evolution of new art forms and the artistic fabric of the U.S. In addition to support from Surdna, POD has received additional funding from the
Amgen Foundation, Amica Companies Foundation, Hasbro Children’s Foundation and
The Rhode Island Foundation.

Proof of ConceptProject Open Door’s sequential,
highly structured curriculum introduces students to the fundamentals of art and
design in a dedicated studio space where TLAD students, RISD faculty and
visiting artists from around the world help teach. Thanks to a strong focus on developing
competitive portfolios and tireless work by staff members to secure financial
support, the program has opened doors to college for 98 percent of its diverse,
low-income students, 89 percent of whom are either still in college or have
graduated.

Participants have been
admitted everywhere from Yale, Cornell and West Point to Pratt, Parsons and
RISD. In fact, in 2010, 12 of 13 POD students who applied to RISD were
accepted, with slightly better admissions scores than the total pool of
freshman applicants. One POD alum, Sang Dinh11 AP, just graduated from RISD and last year was chosen
to show his designs at the ELLE + RISD Fashion Next runway show in New York City.

Almost without exception,
the stories of POD students are ones of struggle and perseverance. Many are
first-generation Americans from immigrant families, the first in their families
to go to college, or both. For the majority of kids, the pressure to get a job
immediately after high school is enormous. And the peer pressure to spend
Saturdays and weekday afternoons doing something besides studying color theory
in a basement can be just as intense.

“There’s an incredible
tenacity here, an incredible desire on the part of these kids to make things,”
says Mara O’Day, POD’s longtime studio
coordinator until just recently. “They’re also incredibly caring and the sense
of community – both intellectually and emotionally – is really strong. The
older kids are aware of the younger kids looking up to them. Even if they’re
struggling, they’re aware of the kind of message it might send if they give
up.”

Those who find their way to
the basement studio discover there’s much more waiting for them than charcoal
and sketchbooks. They find dedicated mentors in TLAD students, post-graduate
fellows and faculty, many of whom volunteer their time.

Now in its eighth year, Project
Open Door has become increasingly more of a college-wide effort. “Part of what’s
so special is the way all the various arms of RISD are connecting to wrap
resources around these kids,” says Sproll. “We’re making a commitment to these
students over time – to help them get to college, succeed in college and do
what all artists do: find their creative voice in art making. That’s where the
idea of opening doors becomes so powerful.”